


Out of Time

by slightlyjillian



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 18:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1828441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightlyjillian/pseuds/slightlyjillian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Episode 1x13. AU. Raven builds a time machine that sends herself and some friends to an alternate past. Jasper's stuck as part of the Exodus Project, Raven's hostage in a strange medical facility, and Murphy wakes up tied to a tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Time

**Author's Note:**

> As I'm not 100% certain where Monroe disappeared to in Episode 13, I have taken liberties to keep her in this story. Please enjoy!

… _Ark Station, 112 years after the nuclear war on Earth_ …

Raven did not look up from her work bench. She had ignored Jasper's courtesy knock leaving him standing in the Ark corridor for several indecisive minutes. He really had no desire to walk in on Finn and Raven's idea of make-up sex again. Eventually, he had decided to risk it and forced his way inside.

"I see," Jasper observed, studying the room. "You've kicked Finn out again."

"Don't," Raven muttered. "Don't even say his name."

Jasper chuckled, "You never listen to me when I do." 

Raven's quarters looked like a bomb had went off. Jasper picked up the empty ration pouches littering the floor and tossed them into the overflowing recycling container. He spent a few minutes replacing Raven's belongings to the nooks and shelves as best he could remember. He shifted the chairs into their normal placement and took a seat in one of them. Waiting.

Raven's fingers were busy with thin wires and tiny steel hinges that were her design. Her arms, her body, were otherwise still. He had to watch closely to see if she was even taking a breath. Her hair had finally grown long enough to pull back into a ponytail once more. If he indulged the memory, Jasper could still see the flip of her head tossing a cascade of dark tresses over her shoulder. 

Fifteen years old, that memory: she had been in the exchange, trading for some obscure equipment. He had said, "I can help you find one of those balancing things. One. Maybe."

Jasper didn't know what had possessed him to speak to such a beautiful person. All those years ago, he still had a list full of ridiculous pick-up lines that never worked. He'd been preoccupied with pining after what he couldn't obtain. And ignoring what he already had. Raven's friendship had been transformative. She had the ego of a politician, but the interests of a mechanic. And Finn's example of how to take in strays.

So Jasper waited, fidgeting somewhat as he let his mind puzzle over the purpose of her project and work the problem of Raven's doomed, never-ending relationship. 

He was saved by another, less courteous knock.

"I'll just answer that for you." Jasper rose, not expecting permission. He was also not expecting his former cellmate from the Sky Box. But John Murphy had a way of appearing when you least expected him.

"Someone hasn't turned in her recycling for two days," Murphy announced, shoving his way past Jasper. He marched directly into Raven's space. His irritation crackled as intensely as a static storm. "If I wasn't covering for you they would have sent the guards by now." 

"Trash man," Raven greeted. She yelped in protest as Murphy spun her around on the stool.

"Getting floated isn't funny, Reyes," Murphy purred, a dangerous sound often followed by claws. He leaned into Raven's face wrapping his arms around her to the bench. Caging Raven inside. "I wouldn't want to see you make Jasper cry."

Jasper shuffled, nervously cutting in, "Now, now. Murphy. I had just started to pull Raven's stuff together…"

Murphy whipped around. His eyes piercing at first, then he paused. "You're always trying to clean up everyone else's messes."

"Right back at you," Jasper scoffed. 

"Get a room," Raven teased, regaining her composure.

"Depending on your point of view," Murphy suggested, "I'd say Jasper's already trying. But all his effort to win you over, Reyes, will be for nothing if you're floated." He backed away, sweeping a hand across his nose. Murphy's incessant comments regarding Jasper's crush on Raven made the open knowledge almost painlessly commonplace. Jasper eventually recognized Murphy's bluntness for kindness, but for a long stretch of time only their peculiar sort of loyalty held their initial Sky Box truce together. 

"Is that how long Finn has been gone?" Jasper asked. "Two days past recycling? Or from last week…? Nine days!?"

"Don't remember, don't care," Raven shrugged. "I've got plenty of my own work to do. And this project. He's an adult. I really don't have time to worry about where he went or what he's up to."

Murphy fixed Jasper with a pointed look. Murphy said, "You didn't notice?"

"Despite what you think," Jasper defended, "I'm not always sulking around Raven's door. I have a job, you know."

"Fine," Murphy shrugged. "And I have a job too. My job, apparently, is covering up your mistakes."

"Aw, friendly Murphy," chuckled Jasper, grabbing Murphy's neck for a squeeze. "Careful. Or everyone will catch onto your gooey center."

"If by 'gooey' you mean a middle made of soft-rot," Raven interjected. She considered them for a second then decided. "Would you like to know what it is that I'm making?"

…

Murphy woke tied to a tree. Sore. Wet. In pain.

The pain may have saved him. Focusing all his fear on the agony, he analyzed his predicament with detached logic. He could breathe. He could see. The ropes bound him with a measure of security as he tried to take in how vast a distance was without walls. How very disorienting the sky when it went so high. How small his body next to the contents of a forest.

He was on Earth? No. He had to be on the Ark.

Murphy shook his head, regretting the loose rattle of his jaw bone and the sluggish response of his brain. Pain.

What had happened? He had been on the Ark. He hadn't been alone. He remembered Jasper. With Raven. 

Recklessly, he threw his head to the right and to the left. His eyes struggled to keep up with the details. Bushes with countless leaves, dappled light and rippling shadows. Green and browns blurring and then separating again. 

He was alone. Tied to a tree. On Earth.

…

The electronic pitch dipped and then leveled. She heard it ringing, endlessly pulling and tugging as if yanking her from the darkness along to the source of the sound.

Quite like waking up, Raven opened her eyes. Light and white were everywhere. But the urgent need to taken in oxygen came with a gasp. An effort loud in her own ears and feeling like glass shards digging into her lungs. Each subsequent rasp heaved her chest desperate beyond the discomfort.

The sound that woke her chirped, rhythmic and steady, as if welcoming Raven back to life. 

"Did it work?" 

The chirping hiccuped to the new pattern of her own heart. She wasn't alone. "Jasper?" she meant to ask. Her word whistled between her dry lips, tearing them open. She blinked. Licked her lips and tried again. "Jasper?"

"I'm not sure what worked. I've never seen anything like this before."

She didn't know those voices. The cold started to overwhelm her other senses. Her arms ached. She saw wires drifting from her to the space above her head. An IV? Raven tried to sit up, failed, and groaned. "What happened?"

A dark face hidden behind a surgical mask leaned over Raven. 

The man spoke, "You're alive."

…

"Hello," Jasper yelled. His voice disappeared, swallowed in the vastness of the whole world. "Hello, anyone?" 

He grabbed his face, shoving his fingers into his hair. Scanning his surroundings. Trees. Trees. More trees. And behind him the ashes and the skeletons and the death and the scorched mess of the Ark's drop ship.

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up," he chanted. 

Was this real? It couldn't be real. Did he have amnesia? Was he dreaming? 

Jasper cautiously reached out to touch at a tree. Bark, coarse and unyielding, tugged along his fingertips. He paused to consider the blisters and filth on his hands. He couldn't stop them from shaking.

"It's okay," he consoled himself. "You… seem to be alive. After some… traumatic event." He lost his balance and stumbled against the tree. 

"Nice tree," he decided, petting it again. "You just hold me up while I rest here for a second."

Color drifted in the distance. Everything was so green. But the wings like blue paper caught his attention. 

"Oh, that's pretty. Pretty… butterfly," he recalled, with some relief. "At least I'm not completely brain dead. Jasper Jordan. Thirty-two years old. I think. Well, maybe I forgot a birthday. I live on the Ark. The Ark…" 

That he couldn’t remember. Project Exodus wasn't in his lifetime. But the drop ships, those were designated for evacuation. Had they been evacuated?

He needed to remember. With all those bodies. All those… he didn't want to think about it. 

Even if he was the sole survivor there had to be more drop ships. Maybe Raven hadn't even left the Ark yet. He could still find her. And maybe Murphy. 

He would find them. They couldn't be dead. 

Jasper resisted closing his eyes and imagining the worst. He pushed away from the tree and followed the butterflies.

"Where there's life, there's hope…" he pondered.

…

The pain became a distant second to the feeling of being trapped. Murphy had accepted his situation, except for the ropes. His body seemed to be recovering from whatever tortures it had endured while Murphy was unaware. He was glad he didn't remember.

He also didn't remember these clothes. That brought up more questions than he could answer. 

"Murphy!" A girl's voice. She appeared in the thicket, dirty and catching her breath. She had been running, but surprisingly silent until she burst into view. She was also very, very young.

She looked at her hands and the rifle that she carried. Rifle, Murphy pondered. Not a handgun. Not an electric prod. As if the day could get any weirder. 

"Do you know me?" he said first. Then regretting that added, "A little help?"

She froze. Dirt made her wide eyes seem all the whiter. 

Damn it, Murphy realized. He must have been a bastard to her or around her at some point to make her hesitate like that. 

"What's your name?" he tried again. He forced his aching body to droop, to appear relaxed and off guard. Jasper called that posture Murphy's 'limp wrist mode' which was apparently as convincing as an air lock door gliding smoothly shut before someone was floated.

"My name is Monroe," she reported. She paused, considering. "I suppose you wouldn't remember me."

"No, sorry," Murphy said calmly. "I actually don't remember much of anything."

"Bellamy and the others," she stammered and her husky voice choked. "I ran. I think they're dead. We were out-numbered. I didn't have… I ran out of bullets. And I ran. I ran. I ran." She spoke rapidly and faster, until she dropped the gun to stare at her empty fingers. "I ran away. I ran in circles. I ran until the whole area was in flames. I ran."

Most of the residents on the Ark needed rules. They needed order. Murphy understood chaos well enough that if he could beat it back he could hide under a facade of normalcy. 

Monroe needed order.

"Okay, well you're not alone anymore," he started. "So untie me and I'll figure this out."

She dropped her arms and timidly approached. He didn't think she was afraid so much as cautious. 

"You and me," he kept talking. "Obviously, we're survivors."

"I'm sorry," Monroe whispered when trying the ropes caused him to hiss in pain. "I'm so sorry." But she didn't stop until he was free. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Sorry?" Murphy turned to fix Monroe into his stare. "Sorry only means you wish you could do something differently. Would you do anything different?"

"Maybe," she continued. "No."

"Then stop being sorry," he concluded. He froze when he realized the damage that had been done to his leg. Somehow the bleeding had stopped, but now it was leaking again. He felt dizzy. How unfair to suffer wounds he didn't even remember earning. "Was I in the fight?" he murmured to himself.

"You really don't remember," Monroe realized. She evaluated his wounds and began tending to them with the practical resourcefulness of a woman. Girl, Murphy reminded himself. Was she even half his age?

"Tell me," he suggested. 

Murphy had eaten more than his fair share of shit in his lifetime. The story Monroe told was space-frozen crunchy shit.

"…I left Bellamy and Miller. I don't care if that makes me a coward now," she spoke without emotion, her spirit sinking behind a long blank stare. The two of them had moved to a soft blanket of grass and rested during her account. "I guess it makes sense I would end up with you."

"And how do you know me exactly?" Murphy returned to his first question.

Monroe answered, "You were on the drop ship."

"But I thought it was just kids," Murphy stated, wading through the shit-story now as if learning the time-line of events was going to help him somehow. "Sky Box prisoners."

"Yeah," Monroe laughed, sarcastic and alto. "Don't tell me you've forgotten that you're one of us." She winced. "I suppose you always were ours. Even if we treated you like crap. But it wasn't any different from how things were in the Sky Box. You remember when you cut Mbege down to size? No one ratted you out, because we were all scared that…"

"What?" Murphy interrupted. "Mbege was my… Mbege was fifteen years ago. He didn't have the character references for his retrial and…"

"No, Mbege was with us," Monroe snapped. She scowled with a brief spark of life returning to her eyes. "I watched him die. But you were already gone by then…"

"Mbege died on Earth?" No. Mbege had been floated. Jasper had to punch Murphy in the face to stop the panic attack.

"I thought you would have known," Monroe admitted. She pulled up her knees to wrap her arms around them. The bitter cold felt good to Murphy, balancing against the ache of his wounds. "Some of us died. But then… the Grounders just kept coming. Maybe Mbege was lucky. Maybe Roma was lucky…"

"Roma?" interrupted Murphy. He knew Roma. Roma had been in the Sky Box with Murphy. And Mbege. And Jasper… "What about Jasper?"

Monroe shook her head. "I don't know. He was in one of the foxholes when the shooting started and I ran. I ran and I don't know."

Murphy stopped listening, "Jasper's on Earth?"

…

The surgeons on the Ark must have given her the good stuff, because Raven couldn't stop smiling. She drifted in and out of her dreams. Always waking up to the bright lights before falling into soothing images in her mind. The bright lights should have been her first clue.

Nothing on the Ark was that white and beautiful. 

The next time she woke, she was no longer tethered to the drip bags. She sat up, pulling at bandages around her waist and stretched tight along her back. The room was too large, too empty, too bright to be any section of the Ark that Raven had seen. And she'd crawled through many dingy, dank corners of the Ark to have left much unexplored. 

She paused when she saw the backs of her hands. Looking more closely, the fingers were more hydrated, less weathered than she remembered. 

"I like whatever cocktail you fed into my system," she spoke. "I look ten years younger. Ha!"

She explored the few items waiting for her. A picture of sunflowers, the same exact picture the Ark always used to demonstrate sunflowers. A pristine toilet, odd enough except that it led her to the strange wall on wheels. The slightest touch set it moving. And she found clothes. Proper clothes.

Perfect clothes.

"Float me," Raven whispered. "Am I dead? Is this heaven? I never… but this will do. New clothes!"

New clothes that fit her almost perfectly. 

"Is this a prank? A gift? Is this an Ark secret?" she continued exploring. She noticed the camera in the corner and briefly considered where the feed might be sending. Medical? The central ops system? The Chancellor? Her benefactor? Finn?

Before she could cross over to the door with the unexpected circular window, Raven noticed movement just outside. A radio crackled on and a man's voice followed, "Please return to the bed and sit comfortably."

"Yes, doctor," Raven saluted, doing as instructed. 

She hadn't put on the shoes or socks. Instead she watched her swinging bare feet as she waited for the medical staff to explain what had happened and where she was at. She sighed. It was probably too much to ask that Finn was there when she woke up. Or even Jasper. But maybe they were only waiting for permission.

The door opened, closed. The doctor approached. He still wore a surgical mask, but his dark eyes openly scanned her for reactions. "Raven Reyes, thank you for being such a cooperative patient."

"That's not usually the first thing a doctor says to me," Raven chuckled. "What happened this time? Did I drop somebody's air conditioning unit on my head? The Ark is a dangerous bucket of bolts."

"That is not… what happened," the doctor replied. He scanned his data pad, which Raven peered at with obvious interest. 

"What then?" she prodded.

"You were shot."

"What?" Raven recoiled, surprised. 

"I know this is probably a shock to you," he continued, not unkindly. "It did take a while for us to deal with the wound. You died."

"Okay," she paused. "Then what? Because unless you want to tell me that this is some waiting room for the afterlife…"

"You were gone for quite a long time. Longer than anyone… but you came back."

Raven appreciated the candor.

He seemed to brace himself for whatever came next. "But we couldn't save the baby." 

Inhaling long and deep, Raven burst with laughter. She clutched her stomach, the discomfort in part may have caused the tears that dropped from her eyes. "Oh doctor," she laughed again. "You have my medical records mixed up with someone else's. Try again."

"Maybe you didn't know?" He suggested. He put an unwelcome hand to her shoulder. Raven stilled. "Perhaps that's for the best."

"No," Raven interjected. "Not possible. Actually, impossible."

The doctor's eyes seemed pitying. He wasn't listening. It ignited a sweat in her palms and rage beneath her temples. 

"Where is Finn?" she demanded. "Where is he? Finn knows. He'll tell you that you're wrong. There is no baby. There can never be a baby! Great news for the Ark! One less couple that can goof up the rules even if we wanted to."

"Finn is…" The doctor took a step back. "Finn is not currently on my rotations. But we could consider introducing you to one of the other patients if you demonstrate an ability to socialize normally. We would want to run additional tests. You are a… you're unique."

Raven checked her rage, barely. "Right. Whatever you say, doctor. Consider me socializing normally."

"In that case, you should eat something," he continued, businesslike and indifferent. He poked the screen on his device. "I've arranged for your meal and an encounter with one of our more soothing guests. I believe you know him. Monty Green?"

She tilted her head. "The name sounds familiar?"

…

He was beyond hungry when Jasper found water. 

"Oh, _thank God_." He hurried forward and knelt on the rocks along the edge. Carelessly, Jasper walked forward on his arms and pushed his face into the water to drink directly. The wetness was refreshing. He'd never drank so much water in one go in his entire life. 

Flopping backward, Jasper smeared the water along his face and saw his hand come away filthy. 

"It's like I haven't bathed in weeks," Jasper groaned. He stared up at the sky that snaked in a path matching that of the river below. Everything was so new, so beautiful. And he was completely alone. 

Maybe it was always going to land that way. Even on the Ark, Jasper felt lost. He still had Murphy who hung around like a bad smell. And Raven, who he loved. And Finn, who came with the Raven package. But for all the other potential friendships and companions, coworkers and casual acquaintances, Jasper kept looking for something more. Someone more. 

"I wish you were here to see this, buddy," Jasper smiled weakly. The Ark had a way of stealing. Earth, so far, seemed very generous. Not unlike Monty had been.

He may have napped, but when he stirred again Jasper really wanted to be clean. He pulled off his shoes and stared in dismay at the state of his feet. Eventually he peeled himself out of more clothing that he didn't recognize. 

"Looks like something I might have worn when I was seventeen," Jasper scoffed. He stood at the water's edge and the benefits of wading in gradually edged away his fear of so much water. He took one step.

" _Jasper?_ Jasper… hey, wait!" 

Turning, Jasper blinked rapidly. "Finn?"

"Yes, hang on." Finn jumped down from between the trees lining the water. "What were you thinking? You know this river isn't safe!" Finn kept coming. "How did you get out here? We went back to the drop ship and didn't find anyone. What happened?"

Jasper stared. "Finn, what are you doing here too? Where's Raven? What happened… we're on Earth!" 

"Yeah, I know," Finn replied. He grabbed Jasper in a hug. Something about Finn always left Jasper feeling warm and happy. He believed that's why Raven always struggled to keep Finn. And why Jasper himself could never hate Finn for what he had.

"It must be some literal fountain of youth," Jasper rattled, pulling back. "Because, my God, you look so young. This sunlight must be very flattering."

"Okay," Finn tried to smile, his eyes narrowing. "Please don't tell me you ate more of those crazy nuts and were planning a one way trip into the sea snake's snack box."

"I don't understand what you're saying, but I'm so happy to see you," Jasper said, trying for a second hug. Finn held Jasper back. 

"Bellamy is nearby. It's just the two of us right now," Finn said. "Three with you. We need to regroup."

"Who?" Jasper hooted, puzzled.

"Jasper, are you hurt?" Finn reached up to check Jasper's face, searching through his hair for signs of damage. Testing Jasper's eyes.

"I don't think so," Jasper cooperated. "I just found myself near the drop ship. It looks like everyone else died. Finn, why did they send us down here? I can't remember."

Finn stilled. "If you can't remember, we'll have to catch you up. But maybe get dressed first. And then we'll have Bellamy take a look at you."

"Bellamy," Jasper repeated, testing the name. "Was he on my drop ship? Were you?"

"All in good time, my friend," Finn reassured. "You obviously need rest. And food," he added when Jasper's stomach protested from neglect. "Have you been alone this whole time?"

"I couldn't find anyone else," Jasper admitted. 

He dressed quickly, shooting glances at Finn to reassure himself that the other man wasn't going to disappear. Finn did look really good, he always had. Annoyingly so. Jasper had hoped at one point that the other man might have some fraction of interest toward inviting Jasper into the relationship with Raven. Jasper had even imagined he might have been a stabilizing presence to their explosive troubles. But Finn was nothing but straight, and a good guy to let Jasper around as often as he did. 

Finn had always been hard to read. So Jasper never asked for more than Finn would give. 

For the same reasons, Jasper quietly followed Finn through the woods. The rendezvous was a series of caves. 

A young man in his early twenties lingered near a cave entrance. He straightened and hurried over when he saw them. "Finn," he said, relieved. " _Jasper…_ "

Then Jasper found himself receiving his second hug for the day. Not usually one to shy away from physical affection, Jasper hugged back. Although he was somewhat uncertain what to say in response to the desperate happiness pouring from this stranger.

"Great, thanks," Jasper stammered. Once released, he messed with his hair wondering if the secret to hugs from handsome men was rolling in dirt. "Okay, that was nice. So what's going on? And… who are you?"

The stranger crossed his arms and shifted his gaze to Finn. "What do you know?" the man asked.

"Jasper," Finn started, "This is Bellamy. We were on the drop ship together. All of us."

"I see," Jasper nodded. "I couldn't tell if anyone else had survived. It looked like it was a rough landing."

"You could say that," Bellamy said, suddenly looking very helpless. He deferred to Finn again. "We need to catch him up, fast. I may have a lead on what happened to the others. They weren't too careful about covering their tracks. Kevin is dead. They left his body as they went. Then I found Agnes. Dead. They aren't taking the dead." Bellamy reset his interest on Jasper. "You're an interesting exception." His tone changed as he added, "Not that I'm ungrateful…"

Jasper raised a finger to interrupt, "Who are 'they'?" 

…

"This wound is healing too well," Monroe announced.

"Well, when we find a proper physician, we can lodge a complaint that I'm healing," Murphy shrugged. He'd found a purpose in finding Jasper. While the other man had often been a pain in the ass, Murphy had always considered Jasper one of his. 

" _He's one of us_ " had been the exact promise Murphy had made when he first found Jasper alone in the Sky Box. 

Motivation drove away fear, so Murphy claimed it completely. He turned to Monroe with a brisk question, "Are you coming with me? Or are you going to risk running in these woods by yourself?"

He didn't wait for an answer as he chose a direction. Sure, he could probably decide a smarter, more strategic course of action later. Maybe he could figure out if Monroe actually offered some skills to the table. But in that moment, he needed movement. 

Monroe turned out to be a girl of few words. After reclaiming her rifle, she fell into step behind him. They found a body which made Monroe turn away. Murphy studied the dead boy briefly, and then took the jacket from the corpse's shoulders. A replacement was timely. Murphy thought his original jacket was a little threadbare. 

"Okay, take me to your drop ship," he commanded. Maybe he would find some food or supplies or, if he was very lucky, Jasper.

Monroe crossed forward to walk in the lead. She was a strong, little thing. Murphy wondered if he knew her parents from the Ark. They would have been split generations, with Murphy probably as much younger than her parents than she was from him. Monroe was no help in that regard. She kept insisting they were in the Sky Box at the same time.

"Here," she said, simply. 

Murphy stopped short at the destruction. The structure itself was intact, but the surrounding land was leveled. He couldn't begin to read the full story of events. Instead, he felt overcome with a strong emotion. 

"Grounders did… this? To _us_?" He spoke through a clenched throat.

"I ran," Monroe reminded. "Bellamy had a plan. I think."

"Bellamy was from the Ark, right? He was one of us?" Murphy continued.

"Yes. It was Bellamy and Jasper. And Clarke too. Finn and Raven."

"What?" Murphy jerked forward. "Not in this? Finn? Or Raven? _Raven Reyes?_ "

"I think so," Monroe followed. "I didn't really get included to the inner circle. Mostly Bellamy teaching us gunners how to aim. Fat lot of good it did me…"

"I don't remember." Murphy went close to the drop ship, kicking up ash. God, he hoped that wasn't the cremation of his only friends. "Sky Box kids. But adults too, right?"

"No just kids," Monroe recited dryly. Then she added with some daring, "You have more than a few loose bolts if you can't remember what I just said, Murphy. You, Finn, Clarke… even Bellamy. Me. All kids on the drop ship. Raven came later."

"Impossible," Murphy climbed into the drop ship. He paused at the rush of relief to step inside something that looked like the Ark. The dark, grey, tightness of it was impressively comforting. 

Monroe started to climb to the second level. "Food," she explained.

He waited below, finding the trap door to the lower fuel tanks had been opened and bore the same charred black marks as the outside of the ship. Most of the remaining items were trash. Reused trash. He found an electric lantern broken on the floor. 

"Anyone still in here would have survived," he speculated. "Monroe, if they were hiding in here during the blast they must have lived."

"If anyone was inside here," Monroe conversed, tossing him a bag of inexplicable contents. "You can eat those things. It's okay."

Murphy ate, torn between disgust and fascination.

"We can carry more rations. And I can show you the caves," Monroe offered. She looked at him with hope. "Maybe you're right about other survivors. If they made it, they would use the caves. Bellamy would use the caves."

"Bellamy, Bellamy…" Murphy teased, raising his voice in frustration. But Monroe's reaction seemed disorientated to the point of terrified. 

"Please," she said. "I don't want to die. I…"

"Take it easy," Murphy urged. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't kill me," she said eventually. "Promise you won't kill me."

"Okay," Murphy kept eating, even for losing his appetite. It was no fun teasing Monroe, but he couldn't blame her for being frightened if she believed half of the story she told him. 

She persisted, "Promise?"

"I promise. No killing."

Monroe settled in her seat. She glanced up at the ceiling bars of the drop ship. She sighed, "Please don't try to kill Bellamy again. If he's alive. We need everyone alive that we can keep alive."

Murphy shook his head. She was crazy again. But he promised all the same. He might go crazy himself if he were left alone on Earth for too long. And how that happened in the first place was still a large black gap in his own memory.

…

Raven waited at the circular table. She crossed her ankles and then sat back in the chair. Her hair got caught and she reached back to free herself. And back and back and… just how long was her hair these days?

She frowned pulling the hair over her shoulder and staring at the split ends. Too long? It hadn't been that long since she had cut it last. A quick tug proved it was all connected. She ran her fingers through the length, wondering.

Then the door opened again and a boy walked through. 

"Monty Green," she whispered. 

"No, don't get up," he gestured, although Raven had made no effort to do so. He sat in the seat opposite from her. Then rethinking, he slid the chair closer and sat again. He took her hand. "Are you okay?"

"We're dead," Raven realized. Now she remembered why the name was so familiar. Jasper's childhood friend. The boy who had died in the Sky Box before his retrial. Raven hadn't met Monty. But Jasper had kept a picture. This boy didn't look like a day had passed since it was taken. She touched her hair. "When we die are we all seventeen?"

"I don't think that's how it works," Monty gently disagreed. "I saw Clarke. She is cooperating so we were able to spend some time together, too. She filled me in on the Grounders and the Reapers and the plan to barbeque them during the attack. She said you were shot."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Raven shook her head. "Am I seventeen?"

"Yes, maybe," Monty puzzled. "I don't really know. Is it important?"

"Yes," Raven insisted. "Because at my last birthday, I turned a regrettable thirty-one."

"You're not thirty-one," Monty said confidently. "Not unless you're a time traveler."

Raven saw a flicker of something. An image overlaying her vision. A memory pushing forward only to disappear. "I think I'm a time traveler. I can't be a time traveler," Raven determined. "None of this happened when I was seventeen."

Monty glanced at the cameras. "I'm going to assume that's code for something." He sat back in his seat and Raven heard the door opening again. The next person to enter was a soldier pushing a cart of food. Some cooked greens, raw fruit and a wedge of, Raven could smell it now, meat.

She and Monty were served like guests. Clear water poured into glasses and then they were left alone again. 

"The food won't hurt you," explained Monty. "We can eat. Although, if they want to transport us to their medical section, they might have put a sedative in. They said as much. But that's as forthcoming as they get."

Raven ate without preamble, but she found herself torn between shoving everything into her face or savoring every bite. 

Monty noticed and smiled. "I know the feeling. But there isn't much variety. This is Mount Weather, and they aren't much better off than the rest of us."

"Mount Weather?" Raven questioned. "I don't know that section of the Ark."

If she had to pick a moment, that had to have been when Monty really believed her story. And Raven's mind wanted to switch off when Monty told her that they were on Earth.

Monty waited. Quiet and slowly moving his fork around the empty plate. 

Finally she said, "I don't feel sleepy. I guess they didn't bother with the crushed up sleeping pills today."

"Not today," Monty agreed. "So do you know Clarke, at all?"

"Nope," said Raven. "Do you know Jasper Jordan?"

His face lit up, "Yes, he's here. Or, I hope he's here somewhere. They won't tell me."

"Seventeen year old Jasper?" Raven reflected. "That's probably something to behold. I have a Jasper too." Then she remembered, "Finn. These Mount Weather people… they knew Finn. And you know me. So you have a Finn and you have… a different Raven."

Monty hesitated, "If you're so sure you're not my Raven."

"I want to tell you something that you want to hear," Raven offered. "But I don't know you. I know of you, because I have a Jasper. You're not his Monty. I'm not your Raven."

"And I thought simply landing on Earth would be the weirdest thing to happen to me," Monty tried to smile only to fail. 

"We have Jasper in common," Raven urged. "Who else?" She scrambled to think of Jasper's friends. "Of course," she said. "Do you have a John Murphy?"

…

"We can't expect him to come with us if he's broken," Bellamy argued. "It's obvious that he doesn't have a clue of what we're up against. He can't even remember yesterday let along three weeks ago."

"Calm down," Finn reasoned. "He's forgotten, but he's fine. He's fine. You don't need to protect him from this."

"You're just worried about Clarke," raged Bellamy. "I care too, but Clarke's status is unknown. Jasper? Jasper is _alive_. He's right there. As helpless as a newborn baby."

Clearly neither of them minded if Jasper could overhear their conversation. He had wondered if he had hurt himself in the blast, but all signs pointed to the fact that Jasper hadn't just woken up on Earth. He'd been here long enough that this stranger, Bellamy, obviously cared about Jasper. 

And Finn. Finn was hard to read. For as often as Jasper would spend time with Finn and Raven, Jasper was always there for Raven. Finn had a youthful side, but he never acted so young. 

Jasper strolled over to the others and interrupted, "Yo, I figured after an epic battle story like the one you've told me, maybe we could catch up on the personal stuff too." He glanced at Bellamy briefly, before settling on Finn for his choice. "Raven?"

Finn flinched. 

"Did you guys get back together only to break up again?" Jasper groaned.

"Again?" Finn grabbed onto the word.

"Murphy shot her. She was in the drop ship and since her body is gone, we're hopeful," Bellamy supplied.

Jasper nearly laughed, " _Murphy_ shot Raven?" 

"So you do remember Murphy," observed Bellamy.

"How do you know that we had broken up? How do you know Raven?" Finn started to raise his voice. Then he felt his own forehead. "It doesn't matter. It's amnesia, it's partial amnesia…"

"No," Jasper reached out. "How do you _not know_ that I know Raven? She's only my best friend in the whole world. And Murphy would never shoot Raven. He was just over to warn us about…" Jasper could almost see it. What had happened after that?

"Murphy did shoot Raven. And he didn't warn us about anything," Bellamy corrected, moving closer. He watched Jasper carefully. 

"Raven's on Earth?" Jasper spoke rapidly, trying to remember. "Murphy's on Earth. Finn… and you." He waved his hand at the unknown element, Bellamy. "You, I don't know. And I would remember a face like yours…"

Finn chuckled. "Slow down."

"Jasper," Bellamy interceded. "All that matters is here and now. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty troubling that you don't remember me. Or the rest of us. Or quite the same way as things actually happened. But they happened. And we've got friends who are your friends also who are in a lot of trouble. Danger even. They were taken from us and we're going to get them back."

"Wow," Jasper breathed. Leaning toward Bellamy, Jasper borrowed a line from Murphy's pick-up tips. "Please tell me we're already sleeping together."

Bellamy shook his head with a laugh, "Um, no."

"Nothing past the hugging stage," Finn jabbed. "But clearly that's enough to make this one fiercely protective."

Jasper closed his eyes and breathed long and slow. The levels of oxygen were a refreshing rush. "I wish I had met you on the Ark," he said. Then he returned to the subject of their debate, "But it seems as if Earth doesn't allow that sort of luxury. And if Raven's somewhere... _here_ , in danger, then I'm going to insist on going with you. Or I will follow the two of you anyway."

Bellamy gave Jasper an appraising glance. "If you insist."

"Oh, I do," Jasper said blithely. His agreement to stroll into a dangerous situation and rescue Raven, who was on Earth of all places, seemed like the easiest decision to make. Like volunteering to be the hero in your dreams. And a hero with a dashing sidekick, if to-good-to-be-true Bellamy was to be believed. 

But the night bugs were beginning to crawl around the mouth of the cave and while they passed by Jasper without pausing, they appeared to be the creatures of nightmares. 

"When do we leave?" Finn asked Bellamy. 

"When do we always leave?" Bellamy crossed his arms. He seemed not to want to look away from Jasper, and rocked his weight over either leg. "First light."

"In that case, I'll just go," Finn back away. "Go look for food. But I won't go that far. So… don't… just don't." Finn left.

"Haha," Jasper mocked. "He's acting like…" But suddenly Bellamy was closer than Jasper had thought. 

"I've lost Octavia. I've lost Clarke and Raven and everyone, but _you_ ," Bellamy's voice broke. Jasper felt somewhat obligated to meet the other man halfway. 

"I'm really sorry," Jasper soothed. "I'm really sorry I'm not remembering this. Because you… you're really likeable."

After a harsh laugh, Bellamy responded, "That answer only goes to show that you don't remember me at all."

"Maybe I can buy you a drink when this is all over," Jasper suggested. "Does someone need to build a bar down here?"

…

Traveling through the caves in the dark seemed like a stupid idea, even if Murphy felt as if he could keep going for another forty hours without sleep. Monroe would need sleep. And Murphy needed to see. So they hid in the upper level of the drop ship. Monroe offered to take first watch, but Murphy had claimed it for himself. Only to fall asleep at his leisure. 

"Don't do that again," Monroe sassed. She threw a bag of rations at Murphy. "Carry that."

"Since when did you start giving order?" Murphy asked, amused. 

"It's not safe," she argued.

He spread his arms. "And yet, here we are, totally untouched by the Grounders."

"Just because you didn't live it, don't remember it," Monroe grumbled. "I'm scared. I'm scared all the time and I trusted you. I trusted you to take first watch!"

Murphy might have felt a little bad about it afterward, but he simply took a bite out of the faded yellow fruit he found in the pack. The juice burst into his mouth with a pleasant sweetness. "Do you have any more of these in your pack?" he asked. "Give them to me."

"Jerk," Monroe complied. 

She was a good soldier, Murphy determined. She might doubt him and protest, but she would obey. He remembered that she would run though. Monroe would run.

"Show me the caves," he demanded. And they started through the maze. He trusted her lead and while he matched her footsteps in the dim light of the single unbroken lantern, Murphy dared to hope he could find Jasper. 

In the Sky Box, not everyone had hope of surviving their retrial. Which was a real kick in the ass way to spend your eighteenth birthday, Murphy had decided. Rumors had gone around that everyone was being found guilty and floated. Even the kids who simply stole rations. The Ark had a soft spot for those who were going hungry. It all depended on if you got caught or not.

Jasper's crime had been stupid. Pretty darn playful as far as crimes went. And demonstrated a kind of loyalty that Murphy craved for himself. Jasper had turned himself over to the guard in order to stay with his best friend. Some friendly kid who eventually got sick and died. Murphy had heard about that too. So when the undisguised tyranny of the Sky Box swarmed on the weakest link, Murphy decided to claim what he wanted for himself. Eventually, Jasper became his friend.

It was the dumbest turn of luck. 

"They were here," Monroe whispered excitedly. She rushed over to a spot on the ground and waved her hands as if Murphy should understand her gestures. "Rabbit. Finn knows how to cook the guts and make use of the whole coney. This is how he would leave it, all natural like it just died here. Rotted."

"Or it actually died here and…" Murphy shut up. She was either crying from being happy or he'd managed to crush her again. "Dammit," he groaned. He tried smiling. "I'm sure they're fine."

"It's my hope if I want it," Monroe protested, sniffling. "Don't try to act nice. I know what you do. I know who you are. I know what it means to be allies with you. We'll be lucky if they don't kill both of us when we find them. I'm the coward. You're the murderer."

Murphy had nothing to say to that. 

He had originally been arrested for breaking curfew, but as so often happened, the guard that evening decided to visit Murphy's home. They had found his contraband, harmless if still illegal. They had found his deceased mother's belongings. The items were determined to be 'female' and thus expected to go through the recycling process to the exchange when she had died. To the guard this added theft of station property. 

"Unless you want to document that you're a cross-dresser," the guard had suggested. "A pretty boy like you? I think we could have all the charges overturned, if you gave me the proper incentive to see things that way."

Murphy had nothing against cross-dressers in general. But the Ark didn't view sexual harassment the same way as sexual attack. 

"I didn't kill him," Murphy reminded himself. "That guard was still alive. No one was going to stop it. So I stopped it."

Monroe heard him. "You might not remember me, but I know why they put you in the Sky Box," she said. "And I know that Earth changed you, even if you don't remember…"

Narrowing his eyes, Murphy pondered Monroe as a whole. "What did you do?"

"I ran," she tapped her head. "I get scared. I run. My parents said that they used to have medication for whatever this is. I try to overcome it with," she took a deep breath. "Meditation."

"How's that going for you?" Murphy cut the tension. He smirked, "If it's that great, I might ask you for a lesson or two."

"Such a little thing. Fleeing a clear inspection. I thought they'd pardon me," Monroe admitted. She pointed at the tree tops. "But instead, we get this. And so what? Which end is the worst? They… They fell out of the sky."

"What?"

"Oh did I forget to tell you?" Monroe's laugh twisted into an unhappy lilt. "No more Ark."

…

Raven slept, rested. Ate. And she analyzed. Monty met her for breakfast and they compared notes. 

Apparently this Raven was approximately fifteen years younger. And in this place, the Ark had lost oxygen and created it's own destruction. On a personal level, Raven had definitively broken up with Finn and had pursued some guy named Bellamy. Who apparently was fertile in all the ways that Finn was infertile.

"I don't think our Finn knows that fact yet," Monty confided. 

"I think that any Finn would find very few situations in which he couldn't see the bright side," Raven countered. "Does your Finn preach love and peace and a fun time?"

Monty conceded, "Point."

They pushed their food around the plates in order to prolong the opportunities in which they had to chat. The Mount Weather soldiers were disinterested in direct observation. And Raven couldn't get a feel for how their captors felt about the video and perhaps audio surveillance. But she knew that it had to be a long boring shift to review all those tapes. She was counting on it.

"I wish I had the guts to let Finn go in the beginning," Raven admitted. "We might have been better friends if we had stayed just friends. Instead, we kept trying to drag it out for half our lives. I haven't seen him, you know. I haven't seen Finn in a long time. Even on the Ark it was possible to lose sight of someone for a lifetime if you tried hard enough."

"Any other vulnerable points that you want to divulge," Monty asked, oh so casually. Raven smiled. She completely understood why Jasper had always carried that picture.

"Curious you should mention that," she said. "I think you should ask the Mount Weather folks for a full medical if you haven't already. I think they could find something of life importance for you."

"Why?" Monty hesitated. He let the friendliness slip a little. "Do you have an advantage?"

"I just know what's possible," Raven said, feeling somewhat more somber. "And we don't want to overstay our welcome, but we just might want to call on the available hospitality while it's still possible. Don't count me out. I won't count you out."

"If you insist." Monty tipped his head.

"I am going to insist if you don't just agree with me," Raven demanded. "I'll be sure to find many ways to entertain myself while you go lie comfortably on some hospital bed for a few hours."  
…

Finn kept their trio moving at a fast pace along the path that Bellamy had already determined. Jasper grew more apprehensive as the mountain became closer. He kept up amazingly, although he expected his Ark toned body to resist so much effort on Earth. So instead, Jasper spent the extra effort ogling Bellamy's various assets. 

"I don't always appeal to the younger men," Jasper joked. "Is that fashionable on Earth now, maybe? Or is it the limited options?"

Bellamy kept marching. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, but if we're not having that conversation today, that's fine. We can talk about radioactive forests. Lovely day we're having," tried Jasper.

"You must have really hurt yourself to think that Bellamy's younger than you," Finn chimed in. 

They paused at the next ledge and considered the next route into the woods. Jasper moved to stand by Bellamy and guessed, "Twenty-ish… Twenty-three?"

"Respect your elders," Bellamy finally quipped. Which Jasper decided to reward with a smile.

"You know how to flatter a guy." Jasper pulled his eyes away to look at the horizon. "And I suppose that if I have to die, Earth is an unexpected parting gift. No regrets. Except for not meeting you sooner. Or remembering how I met you. That part is kind of confusing, to be honest."

Jasper exhaled, happily. "Just look at that view. What nerve we had destroying it the first time."

"Look the other way," Bellamy ordered Finn. 

And then Bellamy rushed to steal their first kiss. It was too brief as far as Jasper was concerned and Bellamy's restraint was brilliantly frustrating. Bellamy said, "I'm not sure if I should have done that while you're clearly still addled up here." Bellamy tousled Jasper's hair. "But I want you to have it however things work out in the end."

"Thanks," Jasper admitted, dizzily. 

"Although you are clearly seventeen years old if you're a day, so don't forget who is the senior soldier on this mission," Bellamy chided. He started along the path. "Come on, Finn."

Jasper snorted. Then he wheezed. He doubled over, desperate for his next chance to breathe. His vision darkened at the edges.

"Really? That's all it takes?" Finn mocked. "Bellamy took your breath away?"

Jasper gasped in the next effort, and it almost worked. He felt his face going hot. He hit his knee with his fist. Unbelievable. He hadn't had this problem since he was a kid.

"Hey! Hey, hey," coaxed Finn. "Just kidding. Did you swallow something?"

"No," Jasper managed a jagged exhale. "Damn, that was unexpected. I'm fine."

"Just tell Bellamy 'no' next time," Finn laughed. "He's getting too far ahead and Bellamy's not going to wait. We've got to catch up." He moved along calling, "But let us know if you need to stop, old man."

Jasper blinked away tears. He hadn't had an attack like that since he was in the Sky Box and Murphy would talk him through the worst of it. He had felt fine. For over a decade. 

Jasper shook his head. Finding it much easier to breathe, he hurried after the others. 

"That's game," Jasper muttered to himself. 

If he could bend time and space to make an opportunity to work things out with Bellamy, then Jasper would find a way to do it. He had decided.

…

Murphy was sure he was walking in a certain direction. He just had no frame of reference and in effect felt quite useless. Monroe pointed out this or that only when it seemed necessary to reassure him, or perhaps herself, that she knew what she was doing.

"Did Bellamy teach you this?" he asked. 

"Some of it," Monroe admitted. "Finn sometimes would give us tips."

Finn, Murphy pondered. Finn was a selfish prick. Murphy had no problem disliking him on principle. Finn made Raven sad or Jasper sad more often than acceptable. "Never" being about the threshold of acceptable. He kept those thoughts to himself. The disconnect of his experiences and Monroe's experiences only caused problems. And as much as he hated to admit it, Murphy needed Monroe in order to find Jasper.

Although if he found Jasper mooning after Finn, Murphy's actions would no longer be held in restraint.

Jasper was the reason why Murphy was alive. And as much as Murphy could hold a grudge against those who hurt him, Murphy could also maintain a trust. 

"I talked to my parents," Jasper had said. "I know you have a record like a station long, but they agreed to meet you. Character references."

"I don't have any," Murphy had admitted in defeat. His father had been floated, which did his pardon no favors. His mother had died. For all of the connections he had made in the Sky Box, he had no reputable friends. No political representatives wanted to leverage a boy like Murphy for a sob story.

But he had gone to the visitation, his first communication with anyone outside of the Sky Box. Not only the Jordans had shown up, but also the Greens. And whatever Jasper had seen apparently had been obvious to these adults as well.

"All teens have a bad attitude," Monty's mother had said. "Hormones."

Murphy doubted. It had felt good to see bruises develop under his fists.

"Everyone deserves a second chance." Murphy wasn't sure who had said that, because the entire encounter had been a little overwhelming. Nonetheless, he had kept those words and only bothered to remember them when he was tempted to act against the Ark rules. Someone had believed in him. Jasper.

Therefore, Murphy hated it when Jasper was upset. Which had ultimately made Raven a complicated issue.

"I think they're going to Mount Weather," Monroe decided. She pointed to the most obvious peak. "It was our original destination, before the Grounders changed everything. It's supposed to be a secure military base."

"Rations, supplies, things like that?" Murphy asked.

"It's what we were told," answered Monroe. Her braids were tight and never seemed out of place, but the sweat of their rapid pace was causing the short pieces to curl in a frame around her face. She wasn't pretty, but she was interesting. Maybe in a couple years…

Murphy chuckled. "If Grounders survived, then whoever was in that shelter most definitely had the upper hand on surviving too."

She stared at him. "That's… that makes sense. Maybe those people are the Grounders?"

"Who cares," Murphy shrugged, done with over thinking matters. "I'm just convinced anyone who is not you or me or Jasper or that Bellamy person is probably hostile. So what do we have to defend ourselves with?"

Monroe dropped her eyes, an obviously guilty gesture. Murphy sighed. 

She admitted, "You usually have a knife. I made one too, but I think I'm better with a rifle." She swung her pack around to dig inside. She offered a twisted piece of metal with a point.

"I promised," Murphy reminded, taking the weapon.

"Yeah, well, now you can prove your promise to me," she retorted, huskily. 

"And what good are you with a rifle that has no ammo?" he challenged, quite liking the way Monroe bristled with a confidence that had been missing before.

"Want me to demonstrate my swing?" she threatened, gripping the rifle like a staff. But Murphy didn't doubt she'd figure out some way to cause damage with that thing.

"We have our plan then," Murphy decided. "Let's go kill something."

She clicked her tongue, but didn't ask him for clarification. It was the closest he'd seen of trust from someone new. He might just like Earth after all. It was full of second chances.

…

Raven met someone new at her next meal. The other girl was pale and blonde. But for all the ways that she looked like a china teacup, Raven suspected that the new girl had a backbone of steel.

"I'm Clarke," she said as Raven sat down. They waited for the food to be served, the no longer unexpected presentation of greens, fruit and a single serving of meat. 

"Monty tells me that I've never met you before," Clarke continued. She cut her food into smaller bites, holding her fork in her left-hand. Raven didn't know if she felt intimidated or the initial sparks of her first girl crush.

"Technically, I've never met you," Raven said. "But I know who you are now. You're Clarke Griffin. Your family saved the Ark."

Clarke swallowed hard and reached for her water. "That sounds like a lovely world you come from, but how dedicated are you to living in this one?"

"I don't have much choice, do I?" Raven challenged. "But I like living."

"Approximately, seventy-five of us survived," Clarke advised. "We're trying to collect names, but our contact is only one-on-one. Which is why, no matter how kind our captors, this isn't where we belong."

Raven raised her own water glass. "I suppose diplomacy is off the table?"

"That's Finn's department," Clarke said, still with her method of intense observation. Raven felt somewhat undressed as if Clarke knew all of her secrets. "And Finn is not here." Clarke added hastily, "We're still hoping he's alive."

"Your Finn," Raven muttered, a reminder. Clarke's water sloshed as her glass wobbled. "Your Monty. Your Jasper. Even your Murphy, although it sounds like you did a bang up job destroying my Trash man."

"I don't know if I envy your Clarke or if I miss my Raven more," Clarke said softly. "I thought we were finally becoming friends. And we really need her right now. I need her."

Raven nodded.

"Do you understand me?" Clarke insisted. "This is our life. We only get one chance at this."

"And how do you know that you're not just running from one problem to the next problem?" Raven asked. 

Clarke chuckled. "You'll learn fast, Raven. We're always exchanging one danger for another. But we manage to keep going."

"I like that inclusive language," admitted Raven. "I don't want to be used up and discarded for not belonging."

"I'll say it as many times as I have to say it." Clarke hesitated as if choosing her words from another lifetime and a different conversation. "I would pick you first."

Raven scoffed, "Obviously. So what do you need me to do?"

Clarke tapped Raven's temple. "I need to know what ideas you've got locked up in that head of yours."

…

"Mount Weather," Finn read the sign over the broken gate. 

"It's built inside the mountain," Bellamy recited. "It may have originally been maintained by fifty soldiers on a rotation, but during an emergency of the magnitude experienced on Earth? I could see them taking in as many people as possible. Or, just as likely, closing out everyone else."

"If they're not on friendly terms with the Grounders, I would expect they've adopted an isolationist point of view," volunteered Finn. 

"That's possible," Bellamy agreed, with a measure of reluctance. Jasper tried smiling between the two of them, which made Finn shake his head. 

"We're still figuring out the whole 'work together' thing, aren't we, Bell?" Finn inquired.

Bellamy bristled, "Bell?" 

Jasper knew that Bellamy wasn't as bothered as he tried to look. Finn apparently knew this as well, or didn't care. As always, Jasper was never quite sure about where he stood with Finn. Since he had a better idea of where he stood with Bellamy, Jasper threw his arm over Bellamy's stiff shoulders. 

"Bell," he tried. "That's really adorable."

"Find your own nickname," protested Finn. But the joke fell flat so that only Jasper was snorting. 

"Dammit," Bellamy griped. He let his shoulders drop but kept pressed against Jasper as if needing the support to say whatever he had to next. "We'll find her, alright? Clarke doesn't get to die. I won't let that happen."

Finn used his hair to hide his face. For once, Jasper thought he might intrude on Finn's honest emotions. 

"She made me promise not to die. But I didn't think that in the end… she would be the one…" Finn breaking was more than Jasper could handle. He waited for Bellamy's nod before crossing over to put a hands on Finn's shoulders. 

"I'm letting you borrow my boyfriend," Bellamy reminded. "Figure yourself out, Finn, so we can get this thing done. We'll be fighting the descendents of an armed, trained military. So I'm assuming the worst. If we're lucky, we'll have stealth on our side."

"Raven and I always wondered if there was a way to crack that cheerful confidence," Jasper admitted. "And now I'm sorry it exists. Perk up, dude." 

"Not a word about this to Raven," Finn threatened. He tossed his head in a decidedly Raven-influenced fashion and looked as if he were about ten years younger. 

Jasper shook his head, "I don't know how you do it, man."

"Enough. You're human, big deal," Bellamy scoffed. "No one is making any more promises. It's likely we're idiots for even trying this and we'll all get shot to pieces."

"Lovely," Jasper exclaimed. "I was hoping for another pep talk."

"That's all I've got," Bellamy admitted. "To be honest, I don't think any of this will work unless we can get help from our people inside."

"Then we do have a plan," said Finn. "We open the door to the mountain. Someone gets inside."

Reluctantly, Jasper demoted himself. "I don't know if I would remember anyone else. Raven, sure. But what if…"

Bellamy put on what Jasper was starting to recognize as Bellamy's pissy face, but he agreed, "Finn, you're our best option. If not Finn, then Jasper." He rebalanced his rifle. "I've got a few shots in this one. So I'll be the choice for suppressive fire if it comes to it."

"If you say that's how it is, then that's how it'll be," Jasper said with a confidence that worried even himself. Finn and Bellamy chose not to remark on it. And they moved without further comment, as silently as they could and keeping to the shadows. 

Jasper had secretly hoped for Bellamy to delay one more time, possibly for another chance to revisit kissing. But it seemed his new designation as 'boyfriend' was the biggest offering in these last moments.

Jasper was absolutely okay with that too.

…

"I think we're closer than we thought," Monroe whispered. She and Murphy had found a place to observe the field leading to the road up Mount Weather. They lay flat on their stomachs to observe the trees. Virtually undetectable, but not beyond Monroe's ability--they watched as figures crept along the shadows.

"What do we do?" she asked. 

"Any suggestions?" Murphy allowed, trying to appear magnanimous. Monroe stared at him with an astonished gap dividing her lips. God, right and again, he wished she were older. 

"I'm not going to run," she whispered. "Are you going to do anything?"

"I'm waiting for your answer." He rolled up to his knees. Where was anyone to brag to about his newly discovered self-control? 

" _Not_ what I meant," she scowled, which was becoming his favorite expression. Then she pointed in the distance. "Flank them. We'll either meet up with them or we can follow them in."

"And take our chances with the Grounders or whoever might be living here already," Murphy nodded. "Sounds like just another day for everyone from the drop ship. Charming."

He looked at the knife. "Jasper's worth it, to me. I don't care if I ever remember what brought us here. Hell, I don't care if he doesn't remember me. I guess that's what I've decided. How about you?"

Monroe looked at him as if he was stupid. 

"Right, fine." Murphy stood. "Your plan is the plan."

"Follow me," said Monroe, already having found some obscure and yet perfect trail along the edge of the next ridge.

They moved quickly, less interested in stealth than speed. If Jasper was in danger, Murphy wanted to be there in time to do something. Something more than identifying a body. He'd lost enough people. Too many important ones.

He remembered walking into work to have Blake pull him to the side. "Isn't Reyes one of yours?" Blake had asked. Then Murphy had the recycling pickup schedule shoved into his hands. 

"Shit," Murphy had said. "What do I do?"

"Tell her to get it together," Blake had advised. "The new Chancellor is starting to put pressure on us to make the logs more transparent. This? This won't be on them. But what if we weren't around to notice?"

He had gone directly to Raven Reyes' quarters. Jasper had been there. And something…

Murphy heard a crashing. Monroe spun around to announce the obvious, "That wasn't me."

They heard shouting next. "Go." "Come on." and various longer phrases of inarticulate syllables. Murphy pushed around Monroe and he ran. If she couldn't keep up, she was kept back and safe. If she had the nerve to run after him, then she'd be fine. She was the strongest person he had ever met.

His legs moved fast enough not to get tangled in the underbrush even as he dug his heels in to handle the steep angle. He could see the branches shaking as bodies were shoved. The first person Murphy saw was in uniform. Not Jasper. The blade, his gift from Monroe, was sharp and finished the job.

The next person Murphy saw was already on his knees choking. That kill was merciful. He catalogued the deaths into ' _not murder_.'

Murphy ran his sleeve along his nose. He had to stop thinking that way. Don't think. React. 

The next man was fighting in close with someone not in uniform. Murphy didn't get a good look because he was suddenly seeing red and flashes of white like stars. Damn, that was a good punch. He didn't recover as much as blindly strike out. Luck found its target. Everything was damn luck. It curbed the enthusiasm somewhat. 

Someone nearby roared and threw off another solder into Murphy's direction. Surgically attacking, Murphy watched the fight in slow motion. Little by little, he unbalanced his opponent. Then in with the knife. The other man was down on the ground. 

" _Murphy_ ," heaved Blake, standing slender but bent like a bow a few feet away. His hair was in complete disarray. He had obviously seen better days. 

"Blake," Murphy replied, stunned. Blake barely looked a day over twenty. Murphy froze. 

Damn luck intervened again. Everything was damn luck as that last soldier was less dead than completely dead. And Monroe howled as she landed her rifled like a club along their enemy's jaw.

"Monroe?" Blake's tone became more hesitant. Hopeful even.

"Please, please don't kill him," Monroe begged. She ran to put herself between them, which seemed rather sweet if bewildering to Murphy. She continued, "Please don't kill me, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I…"

"Stop," Blake looked away. "There might be more. Get ready."

"Bellamy," she whispered.

Murphy jolted. "What? _Blake… is Bellamy?_ " He shoved that aside when he only received blank disapproving stares. "Never mind. Where is Jasper?"

…

"This place is like a mechanic's dream," Raven declared, biting her lower lip. "If I could sack this place for parts, I could build almost anything."

"We just need you to take control of it," Monty reminded, no less enthusiastic but apparently trying to achieve some level of maturity in the face of his leader. 

Clarke shrugged, "I don' t care how you feel as long as you get it done."

"Is she always so much fun?" Raven inquired, letting Monty see her skeptically raised brow on the sly.

"We tried to get her drunk once," Monty admitted. "We've learned to accept Clarke for who she is rather than who she isn't."

"Fair enough," Raven said. She focused on the computer monitor. Then she drew back. "We're in. Oh, they've even maintained population profiles."

"Observe later, hack now," Clarke said. She leaned over to watch the single monitor Raven had set up to access all of Mount Weather. "We need to get all of the doors unlocked without tripping any alarms. Then the assigned team leaders will gather our people and count heads."

"Golly, ask me to do something hard," Raven whined. She dropped her finger, sliding it to an unlocked position. "My part's done. Let me know when you hear the organized pitter-patter of little… feet."

An alarm started. 

"Hang on, I can stop that," Raven scrambled the controls, entered another code and brought up the alarm system. The alarms sighed to a halt. "That wasn't me. Someone has broken in from the outside. Who would be doing that?"

She looked up to see Monty and Clarke sharing a hopeful glance. 

"Finn," Clarke glanced down at Raven. "Can you tell? There's got to be something with all of these cameras?"

"A diplomat who practices breaking and entering." Raven wondered how well she had known her Finn at all. She swallowed the loneliness and dove into the work. Pushing aside the map, she found the camera. Tapped into the video feed. Saw what could be seen.

"Raven?" asked Clarke, somewhat breathless.

"Wait for it," Raven complained. "I'm awesome, but the machinery it takes… here we go."

"Yes," Clarke's unfiltered relief gave Raven a framework for her own emotion. The Finn on the screen was fuzzy, but it was doubtlessly Finn. 

"Look, he's not alone," Monty shoved his arm in between the girls as if they needed any help recognizing Finn's companion.

"Jasper," Raven smiled. Her expression wobbled a little as her muscles seem incapable of following her direction. She missed him so damn much. After a day or two in this strange world with people who were not her people, she wanted her Jasper back. Even her Murphy had known about this need. He had as much as told her every day of their acquaintance. 

"Guys!" The girl who had introduced herself as Harper appeared in the doorway. "Clarke, I've heard from Fox. We've had minimal resistance. It seems that the base relied on the technology to have the upper hand."

"Don't hurt anyone, but gather the Mountain Men and contain them until… until we can find Finn and Jasper."

"Jasper?" Harper said, with sudden interest. 

"Yes," Clarke answered. "Now go. And find Miller, I want him to run reports between the teams for us. Listen to what Miller says because he'll get his orders directly from me... Got it? Go."

"Can we chat on this device?" Raven was already working on connecting to the speakers. She cleared her throat. "Finn Collins and Jasper Jordan, get your asses to the command center." Raven's voice also echoed through the room and the hallway.

"Is this the command center?" Clarke glanced around Raven's temporary bed room. Monty chuckled.

"Damn right it is," Raven nodded. "They should know that much by now."

Raven waited with her version of patience while restoring the communication system under Miller's control. Then she designated loose computer pads for team leader use as Clarke allowed. The staff lists maintained by Mount Weather made it easier to identify which soldiers and residents were accounted for and which were still at large. Miller efficiently rounded up the stragglers until all the wandering heat signatures in the building were verified former residents of the Ark.

Which was when Finn and Jasper finally found Raven's command center. 

"Clarke," Finn didn't even try to hide his desperation for the blonde girl. She met his lips as if she were looking for a long drink of water.

"Ew," Raven blocked the sight and took more comfort in watching Jasper react to seeing Monty.

"What?" Jasper turned pale. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, my friend," Monty filled in the silence. "Raven even… well, let's just say the facilities here were able to fix something for me. She might have saved my life."

"What?" Jasper repeated.

Raven suspected something. "Hey Jasper," she crossed over to pull him into a hug. Which, in any universe, served to rest Jasper's brain. 

"Raven," he blurted. "Wow, you look so…"

"Young?" she queried. "Like… fifteen years too young?"

He swallowed, then let his gaze drift toward Monty. Then Finn who was chatting with Clarke in close conversation. "I noticed, but I _didn't_ notice and then…"

"He's your Jasper, isn't he?" Monty frowned. 

"Raven," Jasper whispered. "I don't know what's going on. Do you know me? Like from the exchange?"

"You never did get that leveling ruler for me," she prompted.

"You didn't need one to begin with," Jasper quipped then caught himself mid-thought. "Why do you look so young?"

"We're not… these bodies aren't ours," Raven tried.

"These lives aren't ours?" Jasper glanced over his shoulder. 

Another young man appeared in the doorway, flanked by others. He spoke, "Raven?" 

…

Jasper's body struggled to breathe but he ruled it this time. The shock was only physical. And if what Raven said was fact, he had stolen the body of his younger self. Except Jasper had never lived this life at seventeen or any other age. He turned when he heard a sound, anxious to verify that any unknown presence wasn't a threat.

Instead, it was Bellamy. 

"Raven?" Bellamy stalled. He glanced between Jasper and Raven as if uncertain. "Are you okay?"

"She's okay," Jasper answered. "We're both okay." And wasn't that a funny thought, Jasper pondered. Only if this was his Raven, then that Bellamy belonged to a different Jasper. And that detail, Jasper decided, was a very sad thought. If he could keep Bellamy would it count as stealing from himself?

Jasper decided it didn't matter if it was what Bellamy needed. 

"You ass," Jasper said, affectionately. This was, after all, the thick-headed handsome boy who had risked his life for Jasper only just that same day. He grabbed the front of Bellamy's shirt and tugged, enough to move Bellamy forward but not ruin any of those delicate threads. 

Bellamy stood close but fixed his eyes toward the upper corner of the room and the cameras there. "Glad everyone's okay, I suppose," he said at last.

"Where did you find this guy?" Raven whispered, appreciatively. 

"I think he already knows you," Jasper replied. 

He didn't hesitate to wrap Bellamy into a hug then. Jasper wasn't asking for anything, but wanted to give something. He didn't understand what was happening, but he was absolutely certain that he was definitely the older soul. And that came with a little responsibility. 

And a little nervousness. Jasper let go after the embrace clearly went into the more-than-friends category.

"Please explain this to him," he asked Raven. "I'm trusting you."

"Okay," Raven shrugged. "That doesn't make our situation any less weird."

"You could say that again," interrupted Murphy. He pointed at them both. "You're _mine_ , aren't you?"

…

Murphy had originally intended to hang back when he realized that this Jasper, and apparently, this Raven were just as young and different as Blake. It was only Murphy who didn't belong here, and even Monroe's familiar presence didn't restore the balance. 

Whimsically, Murphy enjoyed seeing his friends the way he first met them. Jasper hadn't quite filled into his shoulders. And Raven was silly about her hair and determined to find red things to wear at the exchange. They had been right about Murphy. He had rotted on the inside and become unbearable soft when it came to Jasper and Raven. It was that softness that let others crack inside. 

Monroe didn't say anything. Which made her the sneakiest devil in the room, as far as Murphy was concerned. She was definitely going to find out all their secrets one way or another. 

Murphy glanced down at here. "Hey, Monroe. How old am I?" he asked.

Monroe turned her scowl toward him and said, "You don't really listen to other people, do you?"

"We were all _kids_ on that drop ship." Murphy did hear. But to listen. Monroe had tried to tell him after all. "But we stopped being kids once we left it, I suppose." 

He pressed his lips into her forehead, amused when the skin under his touch blushed as red as any Ark alarm.

"Please explain this to him. I'm trusting you," Jasper was asking Raven. 

She answered, "Okay. That doesn't make our situation any less weird."

Murphy knew immediately. He had been _right_ to chase after Jasper. And whenever he caught Jasper, he always gained Raven. 

He interrupted them, "You could say that again. You're mine, aren't you?"

"Murphy!" Jasper boggled as only he could as a teenager. Suddenly, Murphy found himself trapped in Jasper's idea of physical ownership.

"I've got tall, dark and handsome covered," Raven announced. "But am I the only one to think this sucks as much for them as it's good news for us?"

"Let me have a moment," Jasper griped, his words sounding bellowed so near to Murphy's ear. Then more quietly, "We never know when the moments are going to be gone."

" _Monty_ ," Murphy agreed. "I'm not going anywhere. I don't think."

"Don't disappear," Jasper demanded, stabbing a finger in Murphy's chest. He made a body shaped flutter with his hands and fingers. "You're such a _baby face_ as this age. Why do we grow up again?"

Then Jasper spun around to devote his compete attention to Monty. Raven chatted up Blake who apparently was electing to use a blank expression as his reaction to whatever Jasper and Raven wanted to tell him.

To see it from the outside, Murphy wondered who their other selves had been. This Jasper or Raven or Murphy who never would live the same lives he had with his friends. Would they find each other? Or was everything so broken that the kids who had been living these lives could never come back?

…

To say thing became awkward after the truth became public knowledge was an understatement. 

Murphy, who never socialized with many people besides his Jasper and his Raven didn't find being loathed that hard to accept. Monroe shrugged off the group hatred saying, "So now you're a creepy old dude. What's different?" She still lingered around if it looked like Jasper and Raven left him alone for too long.

"If you go back," Monroe said finally. "You have to find me, okay? Teach me how to be brave."

"You've already done that on your own," Murphy disagreed, dryly. "Don't get the wrong idea here. If I track you down on the Ark it's because I think you're amazing."

"Of course," nodded Monroe, looking pissed. "But if _he_ comes back, the other you? That's a real piece of work."

"I defer to your better judgment," Murphy acknowledged. 

"I don't want him to be dead," she mumbled.

"That's a start. If he's anything like me, he doesn't want to die either." 

Murphy didn't know what else to say.

…

Jasper and Raven focused on recreating whatever Raven had done to create the mix up in the first place. 

Murphy didn't doubt they could do it. He did not comment on the long sleepovers with Monty or Bellamy. He wasn't really one to lecture on time traveling body swaps and chose to assume everyone was extremely respectful. He determined this was a reasonable estimate considering how melancholy each of them looked around breakfast time.

Finally, the night before the effort to recreate the Event, Jasper and Raven ambushed Murphy in his own room. 

"If this doesn't work and I've just blown our identities into a black hole," Raven explained, "I want to be with my friends."

"Cheers," Jasper agreed.

…

The Event was only witnessed by those who had the most to lose. 

Blake and Monroe stood on opposite sides of the room. It made Murphy consider them with a begrudging sense of sympathy. He'd already made his peace with Monroe. That left the other one.

"I'm pretty sure you're not here to say good-bye to me, Blake," Murphy joked. When it fell flat, Murphy sighed at Blake's stoicism. "You might have a second chance. It's different than the first one. But it's better sometimes." He tilted his head toward his Raven and his Jasper. "Besides I'm sure the first things these two are going to do is look for Bellamy Blake, janitor." 

"You _know_ him?" Jasper's yell turned somewhat shrill. Murphy blamed it all on nerves.

"Yeah, he's this bastard I work with and…" Murphy began.

"You know him?" This time Raven yanked on Murphy's arm. "Trash man!" 

Murphy grumbled, "See, it's this exact kind of behavior that prevents me from introducing you to my other friends." 

Bellamy swung his head at the word, "We're friends?" 

Shrugging, Murphy said, "It's possible. But in your case, it's probably up to you what happens and what doesn't happen next... If you understand me." Monroe glared at Bellamy, and Murphy relaxed. At least his counterpart would have one ally.

"Okay, let's fire it up," Raven announced. She grabbed Jasper's hand and pulled him down for a quick kiss.

"Hey," Monty prodded from his station next to Bellamy. "You never mentioned anything about this." 

"It's a recent development," Raven confessed. "Sorry."

"Be happy," Monty said. "I want to say 'may we meet again' but I think under the circumstances…"

Murphy didn't hear whatever they wanted to say next. To no one's surprise.

Raven always had really awkward timing.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Where the story wanted to wrap up left a multitude of possible outcomes. I choose to think everyone found a happy ending.


End file.
